The Russians have gone in
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Precisely why Putin's 'little green men' should have been sent packing from South Ossetia years ago. Had that op been broken off in his poterior, he would not have persisted at invasions of neighbors.
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From ancient times, mankind has known that the only way to deal with tyranny is to resist it, not to acquiesce to it. And ignoring it never makes it go away. And yet every few decades, we have to re-learn this lesson all over again, usually at great cost...
Hitler took the Rhineland in 1936, but he had an advance plan to withdraw if he encountered solid resistance - he was aware of his military's shortcomings at the time. Putin apparently isn't as smart.
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Ukrainian teen with gunshot wounds drives 4 people to safety during Russian attack
Liza Chernichenko, 15, was shot in both legs while driving others to a hospital in Donetsk
Story here.
As 15-year-old Liza Chernichenko pressed on the gas pedal while frantically driving through the Donetsk region, she realized she had been shot in both legs, but with four others in the car, including two men bleeding profusely, she kept driving, even as Russian forces continued firing ...
Chernichenko, who already knew how to drive, says as they rounded a corner, she and her passengers suddenly came under fire from Russian forces.
She was hit and so was the car. Its engine stalled briefly before restarting.
With her legs bleeding and pain radiating through her feet, she was relieved when 20 minutes into the journey, they came across Ukrainian troops who took control and got everyone to the hospital...
Liza Chernichenko, 15, was shot in both legs while driving others to a hospital in Donetsk
Story here.
As 15-year-old Liza Chernichenko pressed on the gas pedal while frantically driving through the Donetsk region, she realized she had been shot in both legs, but with four others in the car, including two men bleeding profusely, she kept driving, even as Russian forces continued firing ...
Chernichenko, who already knew how to drive, says as they rounded a corner, she and her passengers suddenly came under fire from Russian forces.
She was hit and so was the car. Its engine stalled briefly before restarting.
With her legs bleeding and pain radiating through her feet, she was relieved when 20 minutes into the journey, they came across Ukrainian troops who took control and got everyone to the hospital...
Putin has created a mess for Russia that will last for generations. No Ukrainian alive today will ever forgive or forget what Russia has done to their country. Western Europe is once again on pins and needles, newly awakened, after three decades, to the threat Russia poses.
The USA and other potential military opponents of Russia's armed forces have gleaned a wealth of information on the strengths, weaknesses, strategy, and tactics they would face in a shooting war...all without firing a shot.
Our sanctions have severely damaged Russia's economy, and there seems little likelihood of their being lifted so long as Putin is in power.
Behind the scenes, it's a sure bet that our cyber warriors have also gained a wealth of knowledge on Russia's computer networks and cyber infrastructure.
I can't imagine what Putin thinks he's gotten out of this misadventure that makes all the negative consequences worth it...
This ^^^ My gf has friends in France, Holland and Portugal and and although they are not saying much, they are pretty nervous.
That young girl will surely be given a medal.
Vladimir Putin, at Victory Day military parade in Moscow, defends Ukraine invasion
Free access WaPo article here.
Also in the article:
Free access WaPo article here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking from Moscow's Red Square at the start of a military pageant, defended his country's military action in Ukraine as "necessary, timely and the only right solution."
Putin told 11,000 assembled service personnel gathered to mark Victory Day, a commemoration of the Soviet Union's World War II win over the Nazis, that Russian forces entered Ukraine as "preemptive pushback" to what he claimed, without evidence, were Western plans to carry out attacks on eastern Ukraine...
...Putin arrived shortly before 10 a.m. local time wearing a St George's ribbon on his lapel, his silhouette bulked out apparently by a flak jacket under his black coat ..
...He told Russia's armed forces "These days, you are fighting for our people in Donbas and for the security of our Motherland — Russia," adding that there was "no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis."
Putin told 11,000 assembled service personnel gathered to mark Victory Day, a commemoration of the Soviet Union's World War II win over the Nazis, that Russian forces entered Ukraine as "preemptive pushback" to what he claimed, without evidence, were Western plans to carry out attacks on eastern Ukraine...
...Putin arrived shortly before 10 a.m. local time wearing a St George's ribbon on his lapel, his silhouette bulked out apparently by a flak jacket under his black coat ..
...He told Russia's armed forces "These days, you are fighting for our people in Donbas and for the security of our Motherland — Russia," adding that there was "no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis."
Also in the article:
Russian users of smart TV systems reported that the services were hacked Monday with a message: "The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war."
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Reported the Russians are pulling some troops from Syria to send to Ukraine. Go figure.
Maybe they can borrow some patrol boats.
In 10 weeks of fighting, Ukraine's TB-2 drones and anti-tank missile teams have wreaked havoc on the Russian Black Sea Fleet's patrol boat flotilla. Especially around strategic Snake Island.
The fleet reportedly had eight of the 55-foot, gun-armed Raptor-class boats when Russia widened its war on Ukraine on the night of Feb. 23. Today it might have just three Raptors left. Russia's Black Sea Fleet Started The War With Eight 'Raptor' Patrol Boats. It Might Have Three Left.
In 10 weeks of fighting, Ukraine's TB-2 drones and anti-tank missile teams have wreaked havoc on the Russian Black Sea Fleet's patrol boat flotilla. Especially around strategic Snake Island.
The fleet reportedly had eight of the 55-foot, gun-armed Raptor-class boats when Russia widened its war on Ukraine on the night of Feb. 23. Today it might have just three Raptors left. Russia's Black Sea Fleet Started The War With Eight 'Raptor' Patrol Boats. It Might Have Three Left.
UncleEd
Member
Maybe it just wasn't televised, but
the Moscow parade seemed to lack
heavy equipment, particularly missiles.
Half the armor looked like Cold War
stuff from the 1960s and then a few
modern tanks and some armored
personnel carriers.
the Moscow parade seemed to lack
heavy equipment, particularly missiles.
Half the armor looked like Cold War
stuff from the 1960s and then a few
modern tanks and some armored
personnel carriers.
Let's give the Russkies some credit here. They may not know how to fight very well, but they do march in straight lines dressed in sharp uniforms acceptably. They probably have good drill instructors.
John
New York Times (free article)
Ukraine Live Updates: Putin Defends War, Without Signaling Escalation
One story from the article:
Ukraine Live Updates: Putin Defends War, Without Signaling Escalation
One story from the article:
Russia's invasion upends a shared World War II history with Ukraine
She carried a simple bouquet of white lilacs as explosions reverberated in the bright spring sky. Tears streaked her weathered face, which was framed by a blue head scarf.
...She came to honor the memory of her father, who was killed in 1943, and to remember those who died liberating her native Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine from the Nazis,...
At nearly 89, Nina Mikhailovna thought she would never witness anything as bad as that war with the Germans. But the current war with the Russians is worse, she said.
At least the Germans were enemies.
"These are our people," she said of the Russian forces, invoking the intertwined history, and the family ties, that link Russia and Ukraine. As she spoke, Russian rockets landed close enough to rumble the ground where she stood...
She carried a simple bouquet of white lilacs as explosions reverberated in the bright spring sky. Tears streaked her weathered face, which was framed by a blue head scarf.
...She came to honor the memory of her father, who was killed in 1943, and to remember those who died liberating her native Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine from the Nazis,...
At nearly 89, Nina Mikhailovna thought she would never witness anything as bad as that war with the Germans. But the current war with the Russians is worse, she said.
At least the Germans were enemies.
"These are our people," she said of the Russian forces, invoking the intertwined history, and the family ties, that link Russia and Ukraine. As she spoke, Russian rockets landed close enough to rumble the ground where she stood...
Guardian article:
Russian journalists fill pro-Kremlin site with anti-war articles
Russian journalists fill pro-Kremlin site with anti-war articles
Two Russian journalists working for a popular pro-Kremlin website filled it with anti-war articles on Monday morning in a rare act of dissent as the country celebrated the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany...
"We had to do it today. We wanted to remind everyone what our grandfathers really fought for on this beautiful Victory Day – for peace," said 30-year-old Egor Polyakov, one of the two journalists....
"This [Putin's rhetoric] is not what Victory Day is about," Polyakov told the Guardian in an interview. "Ordinary people are dying, peaceful women and children are dying in Ukraine. Given the rhetoric that we have seen, this isn't going to stop. We couldn't accept this any longer. This was the only right thing we could do."..
...It is the first major act of protest seen in Russian state media since Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One, broke on to the set of the nightly news in mid-March shouting: "Stop the war. No to war."
"We had to do it today. We wanted to remind everyone what our grandfathers really fought for on this beautiful Victory Day – for peace," said 30-year-old Egor Polyakov, one of the two journalists....
"This [Putin's rhetoric] is not what Victory Day is about," Polyakov told the Guardian in an interview. "Ordinary people are dying, peaceful women and children are dying in Ukraine. Given the rhetoric that we have seen, this isn't going to stop. We couldn't accept this any longer. This was the only right thing we could do."..
...It is the first major act of protest seen in Russian state media since Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One, broke on to the set of the nightly news in mid-March shouting: "Stop the war. No to war."
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
And for today's historical-strategic musings:
I just watched a presentation about the military situation in Eastern Ukraine by a colonel from the Austrian military academy. Only in German, so I won't link it here.
An interesting part of the analysis was a comparison he drew between the developing battle for the Donbas salient, and the Battle of Kursk which was fought in 1943 not very far from there, just to the north of Charkiv.
One important point is that the Germans did not lose that battle. At the time when Hitler aborted the operation to encircle the salient, German forces were still advancing. In fact, Manstein, commanding the southern pincer, opposed the decision to stop and after the war claimed victory was near, not considered realistic by historians. But the lesson here is that if you're the intended victim in an encirclement battle, you don't necessarily have to defeat the encircler, you just have to prevent him from succeeding.
The Austrian colonel identified three main factors that allowed the Red Army to bog down the German advances. For each, he pointed out that today they describe the Ukrainians' posture versus the Russians:
1. Information. Thanks to breaking the Enigma codes with help from the British, the Soviets were listening to the Germans and knew what was coming when and where. We've talked here about Ukraine's use of information technology and intelligence support.
2. Preparation. The Soviets anticipated the German offensive and created multiple belts of field fortifications in the weeks before. The Ukrainians anticipated a war for the Donbas since 2014, and the Donbas front is actually much better prepared for a defense in depth that Kyiv was.
3. Motivation. In this the Ukrainians actually have an edge over the Red Army in 1943. They show a dedication to fight rarely seen on the modern battlefield. Unlike Soviet soldiers, they don't need to be more afraid of their political commissar than of the enemy to fight.
It needs the sobering remainder that Kursk, even though ultimately a success for the Red Army, was a disaster in terms of personnel and material. Losses were huge. In fact, Soviet propaganda inflated the legend of Prokhorovka, supposedly the greatest tank battle ever, to cover up devastating Russian tank losses; so they just invented equally large losses for the Germans.
So while there is hope in history for Ukraine, it will not be easy.
I just watched a presentation about the military situation in Eastern Ukraine by a colonel from the Austrian military academy. Only in German, so I won't link it here.
An interesting part of the analysis was a comparison he drew between the developing battle for the Donbas salient, and the Battle of Kursk which was fought in 1943 not very far from there, just to the north of Charkiv.
One important point is that the Germans did not lose that battle. At the time when Hitler aborted the operation to encircle the salient, German forces were still advancing. In fact, Manstein, commanding the southern pincer, opposed the decision to stop and after the war claimed victory was near, not considered realistic by historians. But the lesson here is that if you're the intended victim in an encirclement battle, you don't necessarily have to defeat the encircler, you just have to prevent him from succeeding.
The Austrian colonel identified three main factors that allowed the Red Army to bog down the German advances. For each, he pointed out that today they describe the Ukrainians' posture versus the Russians:
1. Information. Thanks to breaking the Enigma codes with help from the British, the Soviets were listening to the Germans and knew what was coming when and where. We've talked here about Ukraine's use of information technology and intelligence support.
2. Preparation. The Soviets anticipated the German offensive and created multiple belts of field fortifications in the weeks before. The Ukrainians anticipated a war for the Donbas since 2014, and the Donbas front is actually much better prepared for a defense in depth that Kyiv was.
3. Motivation. In this the Ukrainians actually have an edge over the Red Army in 1943. They show a dedication to fight rarely seen on the modern battlefield. Unlike Soviet soldiers, they don't need to be more afraid of their political commissar than of the enemy to fight.
It needs the sobering remainder that Kursk, even though ultimately a success for the Red Army, was a disaster in terms of personnel and material. Losses were huge. In fact, Soviet propaganda inflated the legend of Prokhorovka, supposedly the greatest tank battle ever, to cover up devastating Russian tank losses; so they just invented equally large losses for the Germans.
So while there is hope in history for Ukraine, it will not be easy.
Thought-provoking opinion here from the analysts at the Rand Corporation...
The Escalation Fixation | RAND
The Escalation Fixation | RAND
By way of Scranton, PA...30,000 lbs at a time.
"...Ultimately, the best strategy to prevent a future world war may not be to focus on managing escalation but, instead, on Russia's defeat in the current conflict."
Frightening, but he may be right. One also has to wonder what China is thinking about all this. Patiently waiting to see where the chips fall before revealing its hand?
I was wondering how bananas were germane to the discussion at hand
Presumably banana skins could be used as a defensive weapon to cause Russian soldiers to slip after their nutritive value has been ingested
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